Green Machine steamrolls Broncos as Hetherington marched

The Canberra Raiders have put their second-half demons to rest –  for now – after maintaining the rage to earn just their second win at home this season thumping the Brisbane Broncos 38-16.

Leading 22-10 at the break, the Green Machine didn’t drop off the pace in the second half powering through to the finish line for a win that keeps them in sight of the top eight.

However, the talking point from the game will be the send-off of Brisbane interchange forward Kobe Hetherington for a high tackle on Corey Harawira-Naera in the 59th minute.

An ankle tap by Tyson Gamble on the Raiders’ second-rower saw him fall in an uncontrolled manner into Hetherington’s shoulder.

Regardless of the circumstances the Broncos were down a player for the last 21 minutes hampering their efforts for a comeback victory, although the Raiders only managed one try – in the 64th minute to Jack Wighton.

Sebastian Kris opened the scoring for the Raiders off the back of an energetic start for the home side. He slipped through defenders on his left edge.

The Broncos looked dangerous early when they were able to get inside the Raiders’ half, but they were often their own worst enemies, with errors and penalties ruining several chances.

Canberra lost prop Dunamis Lui for an HIA in the 14th minute, seeing Joe Tapine return to action after a knee injury.

Thankfully for the home side Lui passed and returned to the field before the break.

The ball skills of Sam Williams and Jack Wighton were on display with a deft pass putting Harawira-Naera in a gap to make it 10-0.

Brisbane scored their first in bizarre circumstances, with Tyson Gamble kicking twice in the same play to score.

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Kris crosses, and the Raiders jump jump

Regardless, the Broncos scored a vital try to get back into the contest at 10-4 with 23 minutes gone.

Then Raider Matthew Timoko continued his strong carries with the ball early, with the young centre poking his nose through the line before finding Williams on the inside to make it 16-4.

Canberra continued to run away with the game with Emre Guler barging his way from in close as the Broncos started to face a huge task of pulling the home side back.

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Hetherington sent off for high shot on Harawira-Naera

The Raiders coughed up possession cheaply after the restart, leading to Tesi Niu creating something out of nothing with a grubber he regathered himself to narrow the lead to two converted tries (22-10).  

An Elliott Whitehead charge down lead to Kris surging downfield with the momentum allowing Josh Papalii to celebrate his return to the side after a three-match suspension, by crashing over out wide.

It was a vital try for the Raiders, who have made a habit of fading badly in many of their second halves this season.

The floodgates opened a little more with an excellent offload from, Bailey Simonsson finding Semi Valemei to make it 32-10.                        

The Broncos’ task got that much harder when Hetherington was sent off with Wighton rubbing salt into the wound with the Raiders’ seventh try.

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